Haven't posted in a while but have still been running although much slower than I'm used to with the heat. A few things going on with me:
- Spent a few days at a family reunion in Auburn, CA - Finishing spot for Western States (100-mile race from Squaw Valley to Auburn - The Boston Marathon of Ultra-Marathons) - got to run a couple times on the ending part of that race around no-hands bridge up to Auburn. Run #1 Major Hill Climbing, Run#2 15 miler with 2/3rds on the WS Route. I happened to be listening to Dean Karnasas' Ultramarathon Man on the airplane ride to Auburn where he has a long section on his first running of this race so it gave me a bit of a bug to someday run this race - I've already started looked up the entry requirements and I'm eyeing some races that can score guaranteed entry with a good placement - and I'm starting to dream of what it would be like to run this race - but not for this year - go faster first - then maybe go farther and I'm still on the go-faster kick probably at least for another year or two.
- Started first week of training to TCM and decided this was total insanity to expect to get a good training cycle in in Houston in July-August-September. I have a strong disdain for TM running after confining myself to doing that most of the time between Boston and Anchorage and I'm most definitely not going to do that for until October. I was troubled by this - I don't want to run TCM not ready - my wife presented a great option - run San Antonio instead 6 (cooler) weeks later. Looked into it - they have a "Calling Texas' Best" competition that gets me into the race free (requires sub2:43) and it's just a drive away. Distance to Houston Marathon is a bit tight but only 1 week shorter than I did last year between NYC and Houston and that was no problem. So I'm in the process of signing up for it. I haven't cancelled TCM but viewing my running it as extremely unlikely.
- Training right now is speed focused for the next month or so with a VO2max workout per week and a 5k or two mixed in maintaining ~70 miles per week. I'm just now starting to feel heat acclimated with my outside speeds getting faster (I could barely do 8 mpm last week now low 7 mpm is becoming relatively comfortable) - I had been holding off this acclimation pre-anchorage but now I'm getting out and slogging thru the heat/humidity with the rest of them. I found a 5k race that appears to line up with a business trip so I thought I'd go ahead and give it a try to not waist the USATF membership I just got for TCM - looks like a good test at weather that should be better than Houston 2008 USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Should be fun.
That's what's new here.
John.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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2 comments:
John, good luck in Spokane. Only thought is I would not count on the weather being better at San Antonio than at Twin Cities. Texas in November, you know.
Hey steeeve,
Thanks for the good luck!
Eyes wide open on weather in Texas in November - I looked at the history on that particular day and although the average high/low looks great - there are the outliers for sure - last year for example I believe was mid 60s 100% humid for what would have been race start time. Mostly the weather appeal to me is not so much the race itself (although odds are it could/should be nice) but the 6 weeks between October 5th (TCM) and November 16(SAM) should have a good majority of the good training weather.
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